18.7.2 Displaying the current interface

As already mentioned, an interface skeleton is automatically displayed when you load an interface into the Interface Builder, and any changes you make to the design are immediately reflected in the skeleton. There are also a number of commands which give you more control over the way that the interface appears on-screen as you work on its design.

Choose
Interface > Raise to bring the interface skeleton to the front of the display. This command is very useful if you have a large number of windows on-screen, and want to locate the interface skeleton quickly.

Choose
Interface > Regenerate to force a new interface skeleton to be created. The existing interface skeleton is removed from the screen and a new one appears. This command is useful if you have changed the size of the window, and want to see what the default size is; this is especially applicable if you have altered the geometry of any part of the interface while specifying attribute values.

Regenerating the interface is also useful if you set an interface attribute which does not cause the interface skeleton to be updated automatically. This can happen, for instance, if you change the default layout of the interface, which you might want to specify if an interface has several views.

Many interfaces in a GUI are used in the final application as dialogs or confirmers. For such interfaces, the interface skeleton is not necessarily be the most accurate method of display. Choose
Interface > Display as Dialog or
Interface > Confirmer to display the current interface as a dialog or as a confirmer, as appropriate. Dialogs are displayed without a menu bar, and with minimal window decoration, so that the window cannot be resized. Confirmers are similar to dialogs, but have
OK
and
Cancel
buttons added to the bottom of the interface. To remove a dialog, click in its Close box.